Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mass movements in small canyons in the northeast of Baiyun deepwater area, north of the South China Sea

  • Published:
Acta Oceanologica Sinica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The process of mass movements and their consequent turbidity currents in large submarine canyons has been widely reported, however, little attention was paid to that in small canyons. In this paper, we document mass movements in small submarine canyons in the northeast of Baiyun deepwater area, north of the South China Sea (SCS), and their strong effects on the evolution of the canyons based on geophysical data. Submarine canyons in the study area arrange closely below the shelf break zone which was at the depth of–500 m. Within submarine canyons, seabed surface was covered with amounts of failure scars resulted from past small-sized landslides. A complex process of mass transportation in the canyons is indicated by three directions of mass movements. Recent mass movement deposits in the canyons exhibit translucent reflections or parallel reflections which represent the brittle deformation and the plastic deformation, respectively. The area of most landslides in the canyons is less than 3 km2. The trigger mechanisms for mass movements in the study area are gravitational overloading, slope angle and weak properties of soil. Geophysical data indicate that the genesis of submarine canyons is the erosion of mass movements and consequent turbidity currents. The significant effects of mass movements on canyon are incision and sediment transportation at the erosion phases and fillings supply at the fill phases. This research will be helpful for the geological risk assessments and understanding the sediment transportation in the northern margin of the SCS.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen S E, Durrieu De Madron X. 2009. A review of the role of submarine canyons in deep-ocean exchange with the shelf. Ocean Science, 5: 607–620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arzola R G, Wynn R B, Lastras G, et al. 2008. Sedimentary features and processes in the Nazaré and Setúbal submarine canyons, west Iberian margin. Marine Geology, 250(1–2): 64–88

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baztan J, Berné S, Olivet J- L, et al. 2005. Axial incision: the key to understand submarine canyon evolution (in the western Gulf of Lion). Marine and Petroleum Geology, 22(6–7): 805–826

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belloni L, Morris D. 1991. Earthquake-induced shallow sildes in volcanic debris soils. Geotechnique, 41(4): 539–551

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bøe R, Hovland M, Instanes A, et al. 2000. Submarine slide scars and mass movements in Karmsundet and Skudenesfjorden, southwestern Norway: morphology and evolution. Marine Geology, 167(1–2): 147–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bugge T, Belderson R H, Kenyon N H. 1988. The storegga slide. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical Physical & Engineering Sciences, 325(1586): 357–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canals M, Puig P, Durrieu De Madron X, et al. 2006. Flushing submarine canyons. Nature, 444(7117): 354–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlson P R, Karl H A, Edwards B D. 1991. Mass sediment failure and transport features revealed by acoustic techniques, Beringian Margin, Bering Sea, Alaska. Marine Geotechnology, 10(1–2): 33–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chu P C, Cheng Kuofeng. 2008. South China Sea wave characteristics during typhoon Muifa passage in winter 2004. Journal of Oceanography, 64(1): 1–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai Fuchu, Lee C F. 2002. Landslides on natural terrain. Mountain Research and Development, 22(1): 40–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Embley R W, Jacobi R D. 1977. Distribution and morphology of large submarine sediment slides and slumps on Atlantic continental margins. Marine Geotechnology, 2(1–4): 205–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang Guohong, Fang Wendong, Fang Yue, et al. 1998. A survey of studies on the South China Sea upper ocean circulation. Acta Oceanographica Taiwanica, 37: 1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Farre J A, McGregor B A, Ryan W B F, et al. 1983. Breaching the shelfbreak: passage from youthful to mature phase in submarine canyon evolution. In: Stanley D J, Moore G T, eds. The Shelfbreak: Critical Interface on Continental Margins. America: Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication, 33: 25–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green A, Uken R. 2008. Submarine landsliding and canyon evolution for the northern KwaZulu-Natal continental shelf, South Africa, SWIndian Ocean. Marine Geology, 254(3–4): 152–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong Zaisheng, Li Sitian. 1997. Continental Margin Basin Analysis and Hydrocarbon Accumulation of the Northern South China Sea (in Chinese). Beijing: Science Press, 63–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Guan Bingxian. 1978. The South China Sea warm current—a winter counter-wind current in the open sea off the Guangdong coast. Oceanology and Limnology Sinica (in Chinese), 9: 117–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris P T, Whiteway T. 2011. Global distribution of large submarine canyons: geomorphic differences between active and passive continental margins. Marine Geology, 285(1–4): 69–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • He Ye, Zhong Guangfa, Wang Liaoliang, et al. 2014. Characteristics and occurrence of submarine canyon-associated landslides in the middle of the northern continental slope, South China Sea. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 57: 546–560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heap A, Harris P T. 2008. Geomorphology of the Australian margin and adjacent sea floor. Australian Journal of Earth Science, 55(4): 555–585

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heezen B C, Ewing M. 1952. Turbidity currents and submarine slumps, and the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake. America Journal of Science, 250: 849–873

    Google Scholar 

  • Hickey B, Baker E, Kachel N. 1986. Suspended particle movement in and around Quinault submarine canyon. Marine Geology, 71(1–2): 35–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu Jianyu, Kawamura H, Hong Huasheng, et al. 2000. A review on the currents in the South China Sea: seasonal circulation, South China Sea warm current and Kuroshio intrusion. Journal of Oceanography, 56(6): 607–624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang Wei, Wang Pinxian. 2007. Accumulation rate characterstics of deep-water sedimentation in the South China Sea during the last galciation and the Holocene. Haiyang Xuebao (in Chinese), 29(5): 69–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Inman L, Nordstrom C E, Flick R E. 1976. Currents in submarine canyons: an air-sea-land interaction. Annual Rev Fluid Mechanics, 8: 275–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenner K A, Piper D J W, Campbell D C, et al. 2007. Lithofacies and origin of Late Quaternary mass transport deposits in submarine canyons, central Scotian Slope, Canada. Sedimentology, 54(1): 19–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khripounoff A, Vangriesheim A, Babonneau N, et al. 2003. Direct observation of intense turbidity current activity in the Zaire submarine valley at 4000 m water depth. Marine Geology, 194(3–4): 151–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krastel S, Schmincke H-U, Jacobs C L, et al. 2001. Submarine landslides around the Canary Islands. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth (1978–2012), 106(B3): 3977–3997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li C. 1993. Crescent-shaped slab slides in a submarine canyon system, Arequipa fore-arc basin off southern Peru. Marine Georesources and Geotechnology, 11: 333–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Gang, Piper D J W, Campbell D C, et al. 2012. Turbidite deposition and the development of canyons through time on an intermittently glaciated continental margin: the Bonanza Canyon system, offshore eastern Canada. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 29(1): 90–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Lei, Wang Yingmin, Zhang Lianmei, et al. 2009. Sedimentary sequence and evolution of submarine channel-lobe in Baiyun deepwater area, northern South China Sea. Marine Geology and Quaternary Geology (in Chinese), 29(4): 71–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Li Hua, Wang Yingmin, Zhu Weilin, et al. 2013. Seismic characteristics and processes of the Plio-Quaternary unidirectionally migrating channels and contourites in the northern slope of the South China Sea. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 43: 370–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Jun, Pang Xiong, Yan Chengzhi, et al. 2011. 13.8 Ma deep-water fan deposit in the Baiyun sag on the north continental slope of South China Sea. Special Oil and Gas Reservoirs (in Chinese), 18(4): 39–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Zhaoshu, Zhao Huanting, Fan Shiqing, et al. 2002. Geology of the South China Sea (in Chinese). Beijing: Science Press, 72

    Google Scholar 

  • Lü Caili, Yao Yongjian, Gong Yuehua, et al. 2012. Deepwater canyons reworked by bottom currents: sedimentary evolution and genetic model. Journal of Earth Science, 23(5): 731–743

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okada Y, Ochiai H, Kurokawa U, et al. 2008. A channelised long runout debris slide triggered by the Noto Hanto Earthquake in 2007, Japan. Landslides, 5(2): 235–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pang Xiong, Chen Changmin, Peng Dajun, et al. 2007. Sequence stratigraphy of deep-water fan system of pearl River, South China Sea. Earth Science Frontiers (in Chinese), 14(1): 220–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng Dajun, Pang Xiong, Chen Changmin, et al. 2006. The characteristics and controlling factors for the formation of deep-water fan system in south China sea. Acta Sedimentologica Sinica (in Chinese), 24(1): 10–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierau R, Henrich R, Preiß-Daimler I, et al. 2011. Sediment transport and turbidite architecture in the submarine Dakar Canyon off Senegal, NW-Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 60(3): 196–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puig P, Ogston A S, Mullenbach B L, et al. 2003. Shelf-to-canyon sediment- transport processes on the Eel continental margin (northern California). Marine Geology, 193(1–2): 129–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shepard F P. 1965. Types of submarine valleys. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 49(3): 304–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Shepard F P. 1979. Currents in submarine canyons and other types of sea valleys. SEPM Special Publications, 27: 85–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Shepard F P. 1981. Submarine Canyons: multiple causes and longtime persistence. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 65(6): 1062–1077

    Google Scholar 

  • Sun Longtao, Zhou Di, Chen Changmin, et al. 2008. Fault structures and evolution of Baiyun Sag in Pearl River Mouth Basin. Journal of Tropical Oceanography (in Chinese), 27(2): 25

    Google Scholar 

  • Vangriesheim A, Khripounoff A, Crassous P. 2009. Turbidity events observed in situ along the Congo submarine channel. Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 56(23): 2208–2222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh S A, Martill D M. 2006. A possible earthquake-triggered megaboulder slide in a Chilean Mio-Pliocene marine sequence: evidence for rapid uplift and bonebed genesis. Journal of the Geological Society, 163(4): 697–705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu Jiapeng, Wang Yingmin, Xu Qiang. 2011. A depositional model of submarine canyons in Baiyun sag, Pear River Mouth Basin. Marine Geology Frontiesr (in Chinese), 27(8): 26–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu J P, Barry J P, Paull C K. 2012. Small-scale turbidity currents in a big submarine canyon. Geology, 41(2): 143–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu J P, Noble M, Eittreim S L, et al. 2002. Distribution and transport of suspended particulate matter in Monterey Canyon, California. Marine Geology, 181(1–3): 215–234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yao Yantao, Harff J, Meyer M, et al. 2009. Reconstruction of paleocoastlines for the northwestern South China Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum. Science in China (Series D: Earth Sciences), 52(8): 1127–1136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Mangzheng, Graham S, Pang Xiong, et al. 2010. Characteristics of migrating submarine canyons from the middle Miocene to present: implications for paleoceanographic circulation, northern South China Sea. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 27(1): 307–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Xishuang Li, Lejun Liu, Shan Gao, Qingjie Zhou & Tianyun Su

  2. Research Center of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Beijing, 100027, China

    Jiagang Li

Authors
  1. Xishuang Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lejun Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jiagang Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shan Gao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Qingjie Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Tianyun Su
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xishuang Li.

Additional information

Foundation item: The National Science and Technology Major Project under contract No. 2011ZX05056-001-02.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, X., Liu, L., Li, J. et al. Mass movements in small canyons in the northeast of Baiyun deepwater area, north of the South China Sea. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 34, 35–42 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-015-0702-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-015-0702-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation